Kimberly Bruckner and Lyne Bessette of the Saturn Cycling Team swapped places in the overall standings of the Tour of the Gila Friday, but it was Genevieve Jeanson who again stole the show, insulating her lead with a 50-mile solo effort in the third stage. The Canadian finished the 73-mile race that was punctuated by 5,150 feet of climbing and strong headwinds in 3 hours, 26 minutes, 58 seconds.

Bessette, a 26-year-old from Knowlton, Quebec, was second Friday, and moved ahead of her teammate by 15 seconds in the general classification, and rests 3:05 behind the leader. Bruckner, a resident of Boulder, Colo., is now third, at 3:20 behind Jeanson. The two Saturn riders had been separated by only one second entering Friday's race.

Saturn attacked from the gun, hoping to wear down Jeanson. Anna Millward was the first to go, followed by Bruckner. Jeanson was briefly caught off guard, but she quickly responded and not only caught her challengers, but kept on hammering. For a time, Bessette was able to stay with her, but ultimately the 19-year-old Jeanson was off on her own, not content with the near 4-minute lead she had entering the day.

By finishing third Friday, Katrina Berger of the 800.com team moved into fourth overall, slipping ahead of Millward, who now rests in fifth, 19:21 behind Jeanson.

On the men's side, Eric Wohlberg and Matt DeCanio tried to wrest the overall lead away from Scott Moninger of the Mercury team with several attacks, but were unsuccessful. With 14 miles to go, Jesus Zarate of the Tecos team and Camil Siddharta of the Corona team managed to get away from the peloton. Juan Magellans, also of the Tecos team, bridged to the twosome and soon the small group had 35 seconds. In the finish it was Zarate over Siddharta followed by Magellans. All three are from Mexico.

Saturn's Wohlberg, DeCanio, and Tim Johnson finished in the chase group. There was no change in the overall standings, with Moninger holding 1:51over Wohlberg, while Scott Price is third at 2:22. De Canio is fourth at 2:28.

Saturday's criteriums will offer a break from the climbing and descending that has marked the first three days of competition. The women have a 20-lap race on a 1.08-mile course (21.6 miles total) while the men will do 40 laps of the same loop, covering 43.2 miles.

Team Rona Report

Despite falling and hunger, Team RONA's Geneviève Jeanson still finished today's stage with a lead of more than three minutes over her closest rival, Lyne Bessette (CAN, Saturn Timex). This brings her lead over Bessette to more than seven minutes in total and tightens her grip on the white winner's jersey with only two stages left to go.

Today's stage was a 117.5-km circuit race, with three Category 3 hills totaling nearly 1,585 m of ascent, and rapid, technical descents over a winding and twisting course. Strong winds and violent headwinds, gusting up to 60 km per hour, made the tough terrain even more of a challenge.

Today was something of holiday for Jeanson's three teammates. After yesterday's heroic efforts, they took it easy today inside the pack. Jeanson, on the other hand, was in better shape today than yesterday and felt prepared to tackle the race solo. She held back for the first 7 km, when the wind was hitting the cyclists square in the face, but as they reached the first climb, after a tight turn that put them sideways to the wind, Geneviève began to accelerate through a 7-km climb up to the summit of the day's first challenge. The pack quickly fell behind, and only Bessette managed to maintain Jeanson's pace. One kilometer before the first peak, Jeanson shook her fellow Quebecer and reached the top with a 22" lead.

Jeanson negotiated the first descent and made good time on the second climb, reaching the peak with a 1'50" lead over Bessette. During the long and winding descent from the second peak, Jeanson reached a speed of 75 kph. Coming into a tight turn a little too fast, Geneviève veered toward the side and found herself in the ditch, fortunately escaping with just a few scratches. She jumped right back in the saddle and took off again. Her lead grew to 2'30" and then, within a few kilometers of the finish line, to 3'30". Weakened by hunger, Jeanson slowed down, but still managed to maintain a lead that totaled 3'05" when Bessette crossed the finish line (all times unofficial).

Katrina Berger (USA, Autotrader.com) and Kim Bruckner (USA, Saturn Timex) finished together about four minutes after Jeanson, and another group of eight women, including Anna Millward, arrived ten minutes after the winner.